RYSE: 2025
by Demo ODST
Summary: Based off of Ryse: Son of Rome, loosely. no description, just please, enjoy!


**Alright, this story is done, complete, will never touch it or change it. consider it a one shot of sorts, but i wrote it as a school project 'super hero short story' my senior year in high school. it is very loosely based on the video game Ryse: Son of Rome, and i mean very. i have made some minor edits of the variety of, i simply did not notice them when i turned the paper in. fun fact, this was supposed to be a simple eight page tops short, Buuuuut me being me, i wrote seventeen pages in a smaller font and tighter spacing. anyway, although i will not be changing this, my question and request for readers, is to compare this story, to my more modern writings, and let me know if i have improved and where. also, keep in mind that i was trying to put as many events in as possible to explain as much story as possible. _anyway, i grovel at your feet for reviews!_**

* * *

Laura watched out the window of her apartment at the dark night outside. She knew it was close to freezing outside, but she didn't feel the winter's chill. She smiled at how far the Unit went to make it's members feel safe. She sipped her coffee in quiet bliss until something outside caught her attention. Fear started to creep into her heart as she watched a dark shadow cross the roofline beside her. The shape stopped and she felt as if it was staring at her. Startling her more, was how calm she suddenly became. The phone on her small end table beside her went off and she answered with caution.

"Hello?" she instantly recognized the deep voice on the other end and relaxed.

"Laura Garcia?" She responded as she stared at the figure crouched on the roof.

"Damocles? Is that you?" she bit her lip as she waited for his response.

"Meet me on the roof. Now." She smiled as the line went dead and the figure melted away. A split second later, a dark shape shot across the sky. She snatched her jacket off the back of one of the chairs and shot into the stairwell. She was only two floors down from the roof and she rushed up the stairs. The cold air bit at her exposed face and legs as she waited for her eyes to adjust to the dark conditions.

"Vixen. You've filled out. You don't look like a child anymore." She spun to face the source of the sound. She recognized pieces of the armor he wore from the Unit. The armor itself was similar to roman armor, constructed using bands and overlapping segments to provide the most armor possible while remaining mobile. The chest piece had been replaced with banding and the shoulder plates had been changed for longer pieces, covering the missing chest plate. It made the high density armor look straight out of Rome. He had also modified the helmet, replacing the microphone and heads up display prongs that wrapped around the chin with plates dangling down from the helmet, covering his cheeks and leaving the ears exposed to sound. He had also added a short ridge of black horse hair leading from the front of his helmet to the back, completing the roman appearance. All of the armor had been painted black and a short visor covered the upper half of his face. The visor was shaped like the face below, but more angular. Blood red paint seemed to flow from the eyes.

"Glad to see you have finally put a touch of personality to your armor." She smirked at him as she fought the urge to throw her arms around him. It had been almost six years since she had last seen him. Four from when she had last spoken. He pulled his helmet off she noticed the large rectangular shield standing on its own in front of him. He tucked the helmet under his arm as he spoke.

"I need your help Vixen." She sighed, knowing he had never shared her feelings for him.

"I've thought you were dead for four years, and all you have to say is, 'I need your help'. What is it?" she sighed as she spoke, tears nearly breaching her eyes

"I have intel on Nero. Or as I should say, Emperor Nero. Since they are one in the same. They cut my coms to you so I couldn't tell you four years ago. Here is all of the evidence I've collected. I need you to be my handler again." He held up a small thumb drive before he tossed it to her. Emperor was the Unit's commanding officer's codename. Nero was the code name to a shadow figure that controlled a large portion of all global terror and drug organizations. Latin drug cartels, Islamic terrorists, and Somali pirates were just some of the many organizations with known ties to Nero. The Unit was formed to hunt Nero down.

"How am I supposed to contact you?" her voice quivered as she caught the small silver drive.

"You'll find a large box outside your door. It has computer equipment and a radio, long range, closed system. Should be all you need. The Unit can't find out." He slipped his helmet back on and scooped up the shield off the ground. He turned and ran toward the edge and leapt off the rooftop. She watched as he landed safely on the next building over. Her thoughts drifted into memories as she moved back into the building.

_Damocles stood before her, much younger and in a t shirt instead of armor. He had a practice sword and shield in hand that he had crafted himself._

_"__Why are you teaching me this? I don't think I'll be running around New York with a sword." He smirked and shook his head._

_"__There is a concept I want you to learn. This is the best way too." He swung his blade at her and her shield flicked up. She felt the impact and another slammed into her shield, spanning the full size of it. She staggered back from the force of the blow and saw Damocles spinning, his blade arcing out and stopping at her neck. He must have hit her with the shield. She cursed and dropped the practice weapons, slumping onto the one of the many benches filling the training area._

_"__I don't see the point of this, I can't beat you." He sat down beside her as she struggled to control her breathing. Sweat poured out of every pore in her skin. His breath came in a slow steady rhythm as they sat there._

_"__Did you see the flaw in your style?" she shook her head as she spoke._

_"__No, but I guess you're about to tell me." She smiled at him, but his face remained expressionless._

_"__You keep thinking of the sword and the shield as having totally separate rolls. You treat the sword as if it is offensive only, and the shield as defensive only. In reality, both act in both rolls. Your shield is far heavier than your sword and larger, making it far better at blocking. These very things make it highly effective at breaking an enemy's defense. Your sword, although light, can be used to great effect deflecting the enemy's attack, tiring them out. I don't think I need to say how it's effective offensively. The concept I'm trying to teach you is that no movement or attack is purely defensive or offensive, but can be used as both." She sat and listened to his voice, barely paying attention to his words. A look of humor crossed into his steel grey eyes as she snapped out of her trance._

_"__And you just missed all that I said. Great." _

_"__No. I'd just rather you show me." She started blushing as she tried to sound confident. He smiled, one of the rare shows of emotion he had._

_"__Alright, Vixen. Snap too!"_

* * *

Praetorian watched from the open skylight, sighting in his rifle on the leader of the drug gang below. He had to wait until he knew for sure that it was his target before he fired. Everyone in the warehouse suddenly snapped up as gunfire rattled off from the office. Screams shortly followed, being cut off just as suddenly. The gang below all had various rifles and pistols raised at the one door leading to the office. Some of the more inexperienced members muttered to each other in Spanish until the leader silenced them.

The door burst open and the group opened fire. Bullets seemed to simply bounce off of some large black form in the doorway. Most of their weapons emptied and the shape shot into the air, revealing a man carrying a large rectangular shield. He was clad in solid black roman armor that seemed familiar somehow. In his other hand was some kind of spear that he heaved at one of the gang members. It burrowed up to its halfway point as the man gripped at it, screaming. The figure darted forward, slamming his shield into the closest guy, knocking the gang member's weapon out of his hands. A sword seemed to just materialize in the soldier's hand and it hacked clean through the man's leg a split second before he reversed his grip on it and stabbed it into the man's back. He yanked the weapon out and spun, slashing the weapon deep into another gang member. Almost simultaneously, he brought his shield up as another member fired his shotgun at him. The blast was easily deflected as he flicked the blade into a normal grip and rammed it into the shot gunner. He yanked the blade out, sending blood arcing away as he twirled the blade in a neat arc beside him.

He casually walked toward the last three gang members as they struggled to reload their weapons. He reached the first one and rammed his sword into the man's throat. He yanked it out, not missing a single step. He reached the second as the gang member tried to raise his freshly loaded assault rifle. The shield neatly flicked the weapon up and away as he slashed the gang member. The last member, who happened to be the group's leader, aimed his gold plated revolver at the soldier. Praetorian smiled as a faint click echoed to him. The leader dropped the weapon and tried to yank the soldier's spear from the corpse it resided in. The spear broke instead of pulling out. They were almost to the back wall when the soldier lunged forward, ramming his shield into the leader. He quickly stabbed both under and over the large sideways shield. The leader's initial scream was cut short at the second stab.

"Ya know Praetorian, you always picked the most obvious places to hide." The soldier spun and faced straight at the skylight he was aiming through. Praetorian slipped through and dropped down as he recognized the voice.

"Damocles? Damn man I thought you were dead back in Tajikistan. It's damn good to see you." Their hands clasped together and they pulled each other into a short pseudo hug.

"Almost. You remember Nero?" Praetorian nodded as he continued. "Nero is Emperor. It's the same man." Praetorian let his jaw drop in shock.

"What!? Our C-O, Emperor? The one who had us hunting Nero?" Damocles nodded before he spoke.

"Could use your help, Praetorian." Praetorian smiled and nodded, seeing flashes of the drone footage where he first saw Damocles.

_Praetorian watched the screen as a pair of US Army Rangers sprinted into a house. The monitor switched to FLIR thermal vision as they ran in. three other heat signals huddled in one of the corners of the main room and one of the Rangers herded them down into a cellar. Bright white lances shot through the frame, marking enemy tracer rounds as the other Ranger spat short bursts from his rifle out the window. Multiple heat signatures advanced on the small structure, slowly being cut down by the two Rangers._

_ "__Sir, why am I watching this? So far, all it has been is drone footage of a Ranger platoon being wiped out." Emperor shook his nearly bald head and pointed back at the screen. The two Rangers fled the house as more than thirty enemies swarmed it. The view changed off of FLIR as the two of them slid behind a low wall. Dust and rock was blasted into the air all around them as one of them shifted to the side. He popped up and his rifle spat single rounds out in incredibly rapid succession. Every single round found a target and brought it down. He ducked down as enemy fire started to hammer the wall around him. A voice came out of the speakers, presumably recorded radio traffic._

_"__Outlaw Charlie one-four, we will have Apache gunships on station in two mikes, how copy, over?" The ranger clicked his radio on as he responded._

_"__Solid copy Actual. Gunships in two mikes, out." The other Ranger popped up and fired a pair of bursts into two of the insurgents and ducked right back down. The first ranger signaled for them to move as he ran from his old position, sliding over the hood of a destroyed Humvee. Bullets pinged off the metal as he fired off two more rounds, his team mate sliding past him. He ducked down and reloaded as he signaled the other to keep running_

_They seemed to move as one as the lead ranger popped up, taking out insurgent after insurgent. The other ran further into the village when he suddenly stopped, collapsing to the ground. The lead Ranger looked back and sprinted to his team mate, grabbing his assault pack and dragging him into a nearby building. The view swapped back to FLIR and the trooper's glowed white hot. Insurgents were closing in as the lead trooper tried to save his teammate. His team mate went limp and the lead slammed his fist into the wall. An insurgent ran into the room. His rifle fired before the Ranger could react and bullets tore into the Ranger. Shockingly enough, the Ranger stayed on his feet and slammed his rifle butt into the insurgent's rifle. Both weapons clattered to the floor as the Ranger pulled out a sidearm and pumped three rounds into the insurgent._

_The Ranger slowly slumped to the floor as insurgents outside started to collapse. Rotors flashed past the image as the gunships tore what remained of the enemy to shreds._

_"__Praetorian, this is your new team member." The image froze as he pointed at the surviving Ranger._

* * *

"Praetorian, I want a report on this roman character that you have been helping tear apart my empire." Praetorian nodded to him as he spoke.

"Yes sir. It's Damocles. From my team. He acquired that evidence in Tajikistan that proved you as Nero. He has been taking out our assets since. He recently became far more effective. He has been talking to someone and being fed intelligence on us and our activities. I don't know who though, he won't patch me in." Nero nodded as he continued.

"Praetorian, I want you to set a trap for our little rebel. I want him captured and brought to H Q. Alive. We will make an example of him. Increase all of our defenses until then." Praetorian nodded as he brought up one of the Unit's secret 'interrogation' sights.

"I'll set up a trap here for him. I'll tell him our old handler, Vixen, is there. In one of the… accommodations. He will leap at the opportunity to save her. I'll move her there and use the neural inhibitor on him. Minimal collateral." Nero grinned at the plan as he leaned back in his chair.

"Vixen is still a good intelligence gatherer. Keep her safe and tell her that Damocles has gone insane. I don't want her hurt." Praetorian nodded as Nero finished, striding out of the room as Nero slipped into his memories.

"So sad to lose an operator like him."

_Nero watched as they strapped the soldier into one of the chairs, prepping him for the procedure._

_ "__You're going to need a new name soldier." He looked into Nero's eyes, a pure rage seeming to burn behind their cold steel grey color._

_ "__Damocles." Nero smiled as he thought of the irony of that name, knowing he had ordered the Ranger's platoon to be slaughtered._

_ "__Damocles, the spirit of vengeance. Fitting. I'll give you all of the revenge you can handle. As a reminder, this procedure will enhance most of your physical abilities. Faster, stronger, higher reflexes as well as dermal armor and tungsten reinforced bones. Um, dermal armor is basically turning your skin into armor." _

_"__I know what dermal armor is. All because I look like another dumb grunt doesn't mean I am." Damocles glared at Nero as the chair back lowered and Nero left the room, knowing he needed to be out of the tech's way. He waited in the observation room as he watched the techs administer the serum and grafting tungsten to the man's bones. They were finished in less than two hours and Damocles stood up from the table, seemingly unfazed by an operation that others took weeks to recover from. Nero stepped back into the room, instantly speaking._

_ "__Never seen anyone stand up that fast. You really should listen to them and lie down." He glared at Nero as he responded._

_ "__Just point me toward Nero. I'll kill the bastard for you." Nero smiled as he signaled for him and the techs to follow as he spoke into his tiny headset._

_ "__Have Praetorian and Vixen moved to the briefing room." They marched into the hallway outside medical area and moved to the door at the very end. Inside was the briefing room with a massive screen at one end of the room and over fifty chairs lined up to view it. There were multiple rooms branching off leading to Nero's office and the barracks and operations center. Praetorian's team was already assembled in the room, along with Vixen._

_ "__Alright this tiny gal is Vixen." Her slender form moved straight to Damocles, extending her hand to him._

_ "__My name is Laura Garcia." She smiled to Damocles and he merely shook her slender hand. At nineteen, she was the youngest person in the Unit, with Damocles being just a year older. She still looked like a teenager but underneath the young face and beautiful body was one brilliant woman. She was already done with her master's degree in networking technology._

_ "__What the hell kind of name is Vixen?" she simply smiled to him as she spoke._

_ "__Take a swing and I'll show you." He instantly moved, throwing a right hook her way. She easily danced under the strike and slammed her foot into his knee._

_ "__Small, agile. Like a fox." His voice seemed far less enraged then normal as Damocles spoke._

_ "__And female. So I don't think I need to connect the dots for you. Let me know when someone interesting actually arrives." She smirked as she trotted away into the Ops center. Praetorian stepped up and offered Damocles his hand._

_ "__I'm Praetorian. I lead this team. Vixen is just this team's handler. Feeds us intel and manages our data systems." Damocles accepted the hand and shook it._

_ "__These men will do everything they can to help you. This here is Romeo. He seems to think he is a ladies man but we all know better. He's my second in command." A massive Italian soldier stepped forward, extending his hand. Damocles just glared at him and he backed off._

* * *

Praetorian watched as Damocles dropped from the fire escape in the alleyway. He held a composite longbow in his hands, his shield slung on his back.

"Damocles, Nero put Vixen in one of our interrogation facilities. As a prisoner. She's being transferred to one of the white rooms shortly." The white rooms were unmonitored cells that the guards could do anything they wanted to the prisoner inside. He watched as Damocles' face paled with fear.

"Lead the way." Praetorian nodded and turned to face the side of the building. He leapt up, landing on second story window ledge. He almost instantly leapt for the other side, landing on the fire escape. He continued leaping up until he reached the top. Damocles had somehow beaten him up there, even though Damocles carried almost twice the amount of gear. They leapt across multiple roof tops, crossing almost three blocks in seconds. Praetorian raised his fist, signaling for them to stop.

"There, the next building over." The building just seemed like another apartment building, but he knew better.

"Pretty well hidden. Other than the sniper on the roof and armed guards patrolling the street." Praetorian watched as Damocles pulled the string back on the bow, bringing the arrow up to the corner of his mouth. He raised the bow up a few degrees and adjusted it to the left, to accommodate for the four lane street below and the light breeze that graced the night air. His body didn't even flinch as his fingers let the string slip out. The arrow arced out across the distance and buried itself in the sniper's throat. A second arrow leapt away from the bow, a steel cord attached to the rear of the arrow. The arrow buried itself into the building as he secured the other end on the building they stood on. He leapt onto the rope, using the his arms and legs to propel himself across the rope. Praetorian quickly followed onto the rope.

"So what's the plan Damocles?" he stayed silent until he slung over the other side, sweeping the rooftop with an arrow nocked and ready.

"We kill every bastard that gets in our way, save vixen, and get the fuck out." Praetorian smirked, remembering the last time he heard almost the same words from Damocles.

_"__Tajikistan. Desert, mountainous, and full of crazy nut jobs who think guns were made for them to force their beliefs on others. A lot like Afghanistan a decade ago, except, no U-S forces there. Be ready for a fight. Damocles, what's the plan" Praetorian watched as the twenty four year old spoke._

_"__Four drop points, four guys, one objective. Hammer in, killing every bastard in our way, grab the data, and haul ass out. Plain and simple." Praetorian chuckled as Romeo spoke._

_"__Where's your pistol, Damocles? Thought you were married to that old piece of shit." The handgun in question was almost eighty years old, and a hundred year old design._

_"__Left it at home. Need to drop a few to stay away from your horny ass." They both smirked at each other. The two of them were two of the biggest rivals Praetorian had ever seen, but they still kicked ass when working together. The helicopter lowered to the ground and he watched as Damocles leapt out. His fifty caliber 'Bulldog' assault rifle seemed to point in every direction as he sprinted toward the objective. The helicopter lifted away, causing Damocles to disappear into a cloud of dust._

_"__Praetorian, you have two minutes to push the enemy to Damocles. I have an airstrike inbound to destroy the data. It's too soon for him to find out about us directing the death of his rangers. We don't know if he is loyal yet." The two other soldier's on the helicopter both frowned, hating lying to a teammate._

_"__Sir, does Vixen know? Be useful to have her expertise."_

_"__Negative praetorian, psychological division thinks she will follow him if he goes AWOL. Command out." Praetorian frowned as the team leapt out of the bay, knowing they wouldn't be able to stop him._

* * *

Laura watched the two soldiers beside her as they opened the door into the cell she was to stay in. She swallowed as she fingered the mic in her pocket, waiting for the right chance to warn Damocles about the trap. The soldiers nodded to her and they closed the cell door. It was a large white walled room, lit so it would look like it glowed from every surface. She yanked the mic out and turned it on, instantly speaking.

"Damocles! Don't trust Praetorian! Don't try to save me, it's a trap!" she shut the mic off and tossed it into a corner. The door suddenly blasted open and she watched in horror as Damocles was sent sliding into the cell. Praetorian marched in and she suddenly felt as if her head was going to explode. A ring filled her ears as she screamed and collapsed to the floor. She opened her eyes just enough to be able to watch Damocles slump to the floor, unconscious. She quickly followed.

_Laura waited in the hanger bay as she watched the Blackhawk helicopter lower to the ground. She rushed forward as soon as it touched down. Damocles was leaning up against the door, one leg dangling out. His other leg had a bloody bandage wrapped around it, hiding the wound underneath. She offered to help him stand up and he shoved her away._

_"__When are you going to stop worrying about me?" his voice was filled with pain as he staggered onto his feet._

_"__That depends, when are you going to tell me your name" she smirked at him as he lost his balance. She caught him and helped him stay standing._

_"__I told you, my name is Damocles." He leaned on her as she helped him move toward the infirmary._

_"__No, your real name. not the one you gave yourself." He looked away from her, remaining silent. The same as every other time she had asked for his name. Praetorian rushed over from the second Blackhawk and nodded to her as he took Damocles from her and helped him into the infirmary._

Laura felt her consciousness slowly return to her as she lay on a hard bed. She could see light through her closed eyelids as she slowly opened them. Fear gripped her as she remembered what had happened. A nurse stepped into the room as she started to panic, pulling off the medical sensors that had been placed.

"Whoa there Garcia, slow down. We don't know the full effects of the neural inhibitors yet. Stay calm, deep breaths." Laura shoved her away, seeing her clothes stashed into the corner.

"What happened in the cell?" the nurse tried to grab her arm as she spoke.

"I don't know. You really should lie back down, miss." Laura's vision swam as she tugged her clothes on.

"No, where is Emperor, he should know whether we caught that bastard." She didn't respond, so Laura shoved past her, strapping her belt on, her handgun bouncing against her thigh. She ran through the hallways, stumbling slightly as her head spun. A klaxon alarm went off and she slid to a stop.

"All personnel, we have a prisoner escape in progress. Alert, prisoner is armed and classified as extremely dangerous." She smirked and sprinted the other way down the hall, headed for the prison block.

* * *

Nero grinned as he watched Damocles dangle from his hands, still unconscious from the inhibitor. The soldier slowly stirred awake, quickly becoming aware of Nero standing in front of him.

"So this is how you treat your old friends these days, eh Nero?" Nero's grin broadened as he spoke.

"Snide comments won't get you anywhere now, Damocles. I am going to kill you for what you have done to this proud organization. Nice and slowly." Nero swung a right hook toward Damocles. Damocles yanked himself up, barely avoiding the blow. He quickly rolled his way up the chain, planting his feet on the ceiling and shoving downward with all his might. Nero dived to the side as the chain ripped out of the ceiling. Damocles slammed into the floor and slowly rolled to his feet. Nero watched as his muscles flexed and the chain holding his hand cuffs together snapped.

"Now who is the one going to die. Me, or you?" He lunged at Nero. Nero dived out of the room. The guards outside opened fire, filling the cell with assault rifle rounds as Nero ran.

* * *

Praetorian marched toward the sounds of combat as one of the security teams engaged Damocles. He called out to them as soon as he was close enough. Only one was still alive to hear him.

"Hold your fire! He is mine to deal with!" Praetorian marched around the corner, stepping over the corpses of the security team. Damocles stepped out of one of the alcoves in the wall that lead to a cell. He had one of the security teams M468's leveled on Praetorian's chest.

"Don't do this Damocles. You know that won't punch through my armor." The rifle clattered to the floor, followed by a sharp hiss as his sword came free of his scabbard.

"No, but this will cut through it just fine" Praetorian raised his fifty caliber 'bulldog' rifle, aiming at Damocles' heart.

"Don't make me shoot you." Damocles started forward, un fazed at the rifle pointing at his chest.

"Emperor is a lie. The unit is a lie. All of those terror cells in Afghanistan and Tajikistan were under his control the entire time. Name any kind of global crime syndicate or terrorist organization and he commands it. I am going to bring that son of a bitch down. For my men. And my parents." Praetorian shook his head saddened by his own words.

"Damn it Damocles. Stand down. Yes, he is Nero. But you're wrong about him. He controls those groups so they don't get out of hand. He is saving lives. Not taking them. He keeps the gangs from flooding the streets." Before he knew it, Damocles was standing less than a foot from Praetorian's rifle.

"Praetorian, don't make me fight you." They sat idle for a few seconds before praetorian spoke.

"I'm sorry. I still follow orders." Damocles shot into action, slamming his sword into Praetorian's rifle. The weapon spiraled through the air as Damocles slammed into him. Praetorian struck back, slamming his fists into Damocles' chest. He felt the sword bite into his leg as Damocles danced away. He glanced down at the thin gash in his leg, knowing it was much deeper than it looked.

"I do not want to fight you, Praetorian." Praetorian's knife slid out of its sheath. He lunged forward, feeling Damocles' sword bite deep into his chest. His knife found its way into Damocles and they both dropped to the floor.

* * *

I clutched the knife in my gut, barely staying awake through the deep waves of pain. A shape moved in my vision the blurry figure crouched in front of me placing the muzzle of a handgun on my fore head.

"Fitting, dying by your own gun. Ya know, I was stupid to wonder why you liked this damn thing so much." My vision cleared enough to recognize Praetorian's second in command. Another shape loomed behind him and I watched as a sword stabbed through him. My old sidearm clattered to the floor as my vision cleared even more. Praetorian sat on his knees as blood poured from his chest.

"Kill the Bastard." Praetorian slumped over just after he spoke. I grabbed the handgun off the floor and struggled to my feet. I yanked the knife out and dropped it to the floor, clutching my bleeding wound. I reached down and pulled the bio gel from Praetorian's pack, slathering it over my wound. One of the security team aimed his weapon at my chest. Before I could react, a pistol went off and the soldier slumped to the floor. Vixen stepped out from around the corner, her handgun in her hand.

"Damocles, you have to get out of here, or they will kill you."

"They'll kill you if I leave. They will know you helped me." My weapon dropped to my side as I spoke.

"Not if you shoot me. They won't go real deep into ballistics and I can say that I tried to take you in alive. You shot me and ran. Now do it!" I stared into her deep brown eyes, seeing the tears forming there. I raised my pistol, dreading the thought of having to shoot her. My closest and only friend. I squeezed the trigger, hearing the weapon fire and feeling her scream tear into my heart. I shambled to her side, dropping the weapon to the floor as blood poured from her leg.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't want to do that." She smiled as she reached up and touched my face.

"It's fine, just get out of here. Take him down." I grabbed her hand holding it to my face for a second.

"Daniel. My name is Daniel Warren. It's just Dan to you though." I let go of her hand, scooping up the pistol and leaving her behind.

* * *

_Laura sat next to Damocles as he sat alone on the tarmac. She could see the tears in his eyes as he watched the stars go by._

_"__Hey what's wrong?" he shook his head and looked away._

_"__Damocles, why won't you tell me anything? We need to trust each other and I know nothing about you." He seemed to stir at the word trust. His voice was quiet as he responded._

_"__I have not trusted anyone in a long time." They were silent for a while before she worked up the courage to speak._

_"__Then trust me." He looked straight at her as tears flooded his face._

_"__Less than six months ago, I watched my entire platoon get slaughtered. My father was a cop in Houston and a cartel murdered him and my mother in front of me when I was just five years old. That's all you're getting out of me." His entire body was rigid as she placed a hand on his shoulder. He seemed to relax as she did so._

_"__You won't lose me."_

* * *

A faint beep greeted Laura as she awoke. She recognized the decorations around the hospital as a civilian hospital. A nurse turned around waved to her as soon as she noticed her eyes open.

"Good morning. There is a Daniel Warren waiting for you outside. I can let him in if you like. He seemed rather eager to see if you were alright. Said you're family to him" She grinned and nodded to the nurse, leaving her answer unspoken.


End file.
